29th Mar 2016 06:34
LONDON (Alliance News) - Polymetal International PLC on Tuesday said its dividend for 2015 will be over 40% higher than the previous year after the company turned to a profit despite reporting a fall in revenue.
The gold and silver miner operating in Russia and Kazakhstan said it made net earnings of USD221.0 million in 2015, swinging from a USD210.0 million net loss in 2014. Underlying earnings, which exclude certain exceptional items, rose to USD296.0 million from USD282.0 million in 2014.
Polymetal had already reported its revenue for the year, revealing a 15% year-on-year fall to USD1.44 billion from USD1.69 billion, as lower production costs were not enough to offset declines of 8% in gold prices and a 17% in silver prices.
The FTSE 250 miner also previously had revealed that gold production was also 9% lower year-on-year, which was partly offset by a 12% year-on-year rise in silver production. Polymetal reaffirmed its plans to produce 1.23 million ounces of gold equivalent this year, which will be a slight drop from the 1.27 million ounces produced in 2015.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation slipped by 4% in 2015 to USD658.0 million from USD685.0 million the year before.
Polymetal said it plans to pay a dividend of 51.0 cents in total for 2015, representing a 42% rise from the 0.36 cents paid in 2014.
Net debt at the end of the year rose to USD1.29 billion from USD1.24 billion after Polymetal spent USD205.0 million in capital expenditure, which was down 2% from the USD210.0 million spent in 2014.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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